Tobago hoteliers: Displaced workers struggling to survive

The Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association (THTA) says while it is pleased with the Government’s measured re-opening of the economy, no mention is being made of further relief for those who are still unemployed and eking out a living owing to the covid19 restrictions.

The Prime Minister, speaking at a news conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, on Saturday, announced a further ease in restrictions in several areas, including a resumption of in-house dining at restaurants at a 50 per cent capacity in groups of no more than ten patrons.

But the sale of alcohol will be prohibited at these establishments.

Rowley said bar owners, who have been clamouring to resume normal operations, will have to wait a little longer to do so. They are expected to continue operating on a take-away basis for at least another two weeks.

THTA vice-president Carol-Ann Birchwood James said while the association welcomes these initiatives, many people who were displaced during the national lockdown since March have still not received the salary relief grant and are experiencing extreme hardship.

“I am listening to the Prime Minister and he is taking about these measures but there is an area that he is skirting over. And that is that there are many people unemployed in Tobago and in Trinidad,” she told Sunday Newsday.

“They do not have money. They do not have food on the table and a lot of them still have not received that salary relief grant.”

Birchwood-James continued: “Nothing is being said about how are these people to live. This is an area that you have to consider.

“We know that there are the social services but a lot of people do not want to go and beg anybody for a grant or a food card. They just want to work. And, if they can’t work, they need to get some kind of legitimate grant if they are not opening up bars, until the country come to some kind of normalcy.”

Birchwood-James said in-house dining at restaurants, even at a reduced capacity, will generate some much-needed income to assist Tobago’s struggling economy.

“Yes, we have social distancing, you have to separate the tables, but you have a table of ten. So that is very good.”Birchwood-James, who also welcomed the increased flights to Tobago, observed domestic tourism is slowly occurring.

“I travelled on the boat over the weekend unto Tuesday and there were people coming down to Trinidad, who I know, were not Tobagonians and when they were coming up, there were quite a few visitors coming up as well from Trinidad. So, there is a slow opening up of the Tobago tourism.”

Saying many hotels are trying to reopen, Birchwood-James said the process is happening at a cost “because they have to look for this money through loans.”

She also welcomed the announcement that many people, who were stuck overseas when the borders were closed in March, have expressed interest in returning to TT for Christmas.

“That will be a bit of foreign exchange for Trinidad and Tobago. So, we hope that that will become a reality so that we can have some people coming home here for Christmas, walking with their foreign exchange.

“Christmas time in Tobago the hotels are usually filled with locals, so we hope a lot of them will choose Tobago to come for the Christmas holiday.”

The association’s former president Nicholas Hardwicke said he is also pleased restaurants and eateries can resume in-house dining, albeit at a reduced capacity.

“It is not ideal but I understand the methodology they are undertaking,” said Hardwicke, owner of the Seahorse Inn Restaurant in Black Rock.

“It is a step in the right direction. Hopefully, the science and methodology that the Government has adopted bears out that process and, in the days and weeks to come, perhaps they can roll back further.”

Hardwicke supported the prime minister’s view that now is not the time for people to “drop our guard.

“That guard has to be focussed on the broad scope of the population and the activities in general.”